This might be the last snowweekend in Japan for now!Had a really fun weekend at Ahsahidake beginning of February – Asahidake is famous for being on of the best the powder & free ride areas of Hokkaido. Unluckily when we arrived, there was only harsh snow left over. This was very unusual for February as I learned.Asahidake has only two ski slopes and one gondola, therefore the first day was not really demanding.So we visited the snow festival in Asahikawa which was a funny alternative,even so it might be a smaller festival than the famous one in Sapporo. Next day the wind was so strong the gondola did not work at all, so we packed some snow shoes and hiked up.Beautiful landscape and even a snow rabbit to see! Luckily weather and snow were perfect at day three and we enjoyed a real powder day with the local guide Toshi (Totori Powder station), who really knows the area and showed us amazing free ride slopes trough the woods! Thanks for that! Conclusion: Ashaidake is really a place to go if you are an experienced skier and you want to have some real Hokkaido Powder! But be aware – there is not much else to do (which was perfect for me) and you should not underestimate this mountain! It’s worth spending the money to be guided trough the area!

Now – this weekend it was the time to visit one of Honshu’s famous powder locations: Myoko Kogen, which consist of around 5 ski areas. Best description here:powderhounds. The snow was even higher than in Hokkaido, but also quite different! Even so we had fresh snow it was much more wet and less fluffy. But this is complaining an a real high level! Because on the one hand this years snow is said to be extra wet on the main island and on the other hand: come on – 4m snow and 20cm fresh powder, how bad can it be 😉 I visited Seki Onsen, which is the smallest of the ski areas, but known for a lot of nice back country. I really liked this snowy small village with the tiny Onsen and the nice ski huts! Worth a visit!

Pre-warning. If you are not interested in winter sports, no need to watch this video. It mainly shows snow. A lot of snow. in addition to my ‘powder‘ Blog entry, some moving images for Japan tourism promotion and to pay off my GoPro 😉